Applicant of the present invention previously proposed a unique dental implant mounting solution in PCT application publication WO 2013/059939, which built upon an earlier iteration of the system that was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,015.
The original U.S. patent introduced the use of a transmucosal collar screwed in place on a dental implant in order to seat a flanged intermediate portion of the collar atop the implant, and a also employed threaded cap engaged over a top end of the collar to enclose the axial bore of the collar in which the screw fixes the collar to the implant body. An angled configuration of top end of the cap and/or a top surface of the flanged portion of the collar was used to angularly offset an abutment that is attached to the top end of the cap from the longitudinal axis of the implant body, thus allowing the dental professional to achieve a suitable angle of the abutment for proper placement of the crown or other prosthetic regardless of the installed angle of the implant.
The subsequent PCT application built upon the original idea by providing the cap or mounting head with a contoured surface cooperable with a contoured-bottom abutment, whereby the abutment could be tilted relative to the mounting head and underlying collar and implant body in any direction to give even more freedom of angulation. The PCT application also revealed possible use of the collar to act as an adapter for providing attachment capability between attachments and implants that aren't directly compatible with one another, and also possible production of the collar in different axial lengths to allow selection from among these lengths to tailor the distance between the implant and abutment according to particular patient needs.
The presently disclosed invention further builds upon the transmucosal collar systems of the forgoing references.